He may have been born blind, but that didn’t deter him from making music the light of his life. Kollegal S. Gopalakrishna is one among the artistes and musicians, who have been chosen by the Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya Academy for the Karnataka Kalashree Award for 2013-2014.
A native of Kollegal in Chamarajanagar, R. Seetharaman and Seethamma admitted their child to the Blind and Dumb School in Mysore. However, thanks to the musical leanings of his parents — his father was a flutist and mother a singer of traditional songs — he took to music effortlessly.
He became the disciple of veterans such as T.M. Murugesh Mudaliyar, court musician B.S. Shivarudrappa and vidwan Venkatappa.
Belonging to the Nayak community (Scheduled Tribes), Mr. Gopalakrishna (68) started his career as a teacher of music in the Government High School at Chickmagalur, Srinivasapur and later at Kolar, which became his home. He also performed at concerts and gave solos on the violin. Thousands of people across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were enthralled by the performance of this blind artist.
He has been felicitated by a number of organisations and won numerous titles. Among them are Best Musician and Best Violinist, by Bangalore’s Gayana Samaj and Kolar district administration’s district-level Rajyotsava Award in 1998.
After retirement, Mr. Gopalakrishna teaches music at the Sunada Sangeeta Shikshana Shaale in Kolar.
